Landmark looking to sell

UPDATE: John Robinson adds more info, including a PDF of the chairman of Landmark’s letter to employees.

Landmark Communications, owner of the Roanoke Times, Virginian-Pilot, the Greensboro News & Record and a bunch of community newspapers, is looking to sell the Weather Channel, and possibly break up the company.

The three newspapers listed above have been some of the more innovative over the past few years in their use of multimedia and the Internet. John Robinson, editor of the N&R, was an early adopter of blogging as a platform to tell the story of the newspaper. The Roanoke.com crew have pushed the multimedia envelope. And the Virginian-Pilot’s online site is an example of community-building to be admired.

Here’s the V-P story, an NY Times story, and Robinson’s blog post on the story.

Any media company would do well to invest in those three newspaper properties, at least, if they’re interested in innovation.

Interestingly, analysts are saying the Weather Channel alone might fetch $5 billion, which is close to the price Rupert Murdoch paid for the entire Wall Street Journal company!

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